As always, thanks for reading. We are getting close to the end of the prologue. I hope you’ve been enjoying it!
Missed Part 4? I got you:
“There’s no way we’re helping a traitor,” the neighboring villager said, pointing a finger towards Natsuhiko’s brand.
The pain in his neck, the worry in his mind, and the man’s words lit the anger in Natsuhiko’s stomach. “There are women and children left stranded,” he said. “Help us rescue them and you won’t have to deal with me anymore.”
The man shook his head. “I don’t want no part in this. Who knows what you’ve done to bring on the gods’ wrath?” He turned then, the other villagers murmuring in agreement. They packed up their cart and rode away.
“So much for that plan,” Ren said, kicking the dirt.
Natsuhiko turned towards Shingi, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Can’t you help them? Please! We have to hurry.”
Shingi looked towards the hill that led back to the village. “Let’s go see.”
They jogged over to the hill. The slosh of the water from the other side splashing as they approached. When they reached the top, Natsuhiko saw more people standing on the hills surrounded by water. Yet, he couldn’t see his family.
“What do you think?” Shingi asked Ren.
He grabbed the brim of his straw hat. “Most of the hills are completely exposed to the sunlight. I can’t get there until there’s some more shadow.” He looked down towards the dark water, which was still running. “And with the water like this, we won’t be swimming for a while.”
Natsuhiko’s eyes followed the flow. The land curved downward towards the ocean. The horizon shone in the distance on his left, but he was sure it would be a few days until the water fully drained from the land.
“I guess that means it’s my job,” Shingi said. “You think Sui is still here?”
Ren shook his head. “I don’t sense anything, so I don’t think so, but who knows? Those gods are too powerful. She could mask her presence easily.”
Shingi’s eyes met Natsuhiko’s own.
“Please,” he said, though he was unsure what she planned to do.
She smiled at him, sending a wave of heat through his face. His neck stung.
“I’ll do what I can,” she said. She moved her hands in front of her, straining against some invisible force. The surrounding hill shook, and then, from the water, a path of earth surfaced. Shingi grabbed Natsuhiko’s wrist. “You come with me. Ren, I’ll try to send the survivors back to you.”
Natsuhiko stared in awe as they walked across the path. The running water slammed into the side of it, spitting up at them as they crossed. Shingi had raised the ground from beneath the waters.
“How did you do that?” he asked as they reached the next hill.
“Like I said, I’m a Sage. We have powers over the elements.”
“And your power is over earth?”
Shingi hesitated. “Yes.”
“What about Ren?”
“Shadow,” she said. “He can travel between shadows actually, which would have made getting to these islands easier, but since it’s midday, it doesn’t really help us now.”
Natsuhiko nodded as if he understood. They continued on, moving over the next hill and coming to a group of survivors. It was the same men who had held Natsuhiko as Hachirō branded him.
One of them yelled when he saw Natsuhiko. “It’s you!” he said. “We should have branded you sooner! Why did you survive when he—” His voice broke. He pointed back towards the group of men, who Natsuhiko now realized were kneeling around someone.
It was Hachirō. His legs were twisted and broken, his body still and unbreathing. Natsuhiko tensed, tears stinging his eyes. He had no love for the man, but this sort of death…what kind of god would do such a thing?
Shingi stepped between them as the man jutted a finger into Natsuhiko’s chest. “We’ve come to rescue you. There’s no sense in blaming anyone now.”
“And who are you?” the man asked.
“I’m a Sage. My name is Shingi.” She gestured to the land bridge that she had created. “Cross there. My friend is there waiting. He’ll guide everyone away from the waters.”
The man nodded, still staring with wide eyes at the land bridge. The rest of the men moved past, carrying Hachirō’s body. They gave Natsuhiko dark looks, but said nothing.
The two of them pressed on, using Shingi’s power over the earth to move between the patches of land that jutted above the water. As it drained towards the sea, however, the current gushed. When they came to the last pieces of land, there was at least fifty meters between the islands.
“Onī-chan!”
Natsuhiko spun around, trying to find the voice. “Saya!” he called over the rush of the water.
“Over here, onī-chan!”
Finally, he spotted her. She clung to the branches of a tree about twenty yards away. The water submerged most of the trunk, lapping at her feet and legs.
“Saya!” he said again. As he took in the scene, he realized that Routa and his mother were there, too, arms gripping the trunk as the waters raged around them.
“That’s my family!” He turned to Shingi. “We have to help them!”
Shingi joined him at the edge of the hill. Beads of sweat lined her forehead and stuck loose hairs to the skin. “It’s upstream and too far. I won’t be able to raise that much earth under the weight of the water.”
Natsuhiko grabbed her shoulders. “No, no! There has to be a way!”
“You stay here,” she said. “I should be able to reach them.”
“What are—”
Shingi twisted her torso and then snapped back with her arms in the opposite direction. Around her, the wind swirled, pushing back the grass and the water. Then, she jumped. The wind snapped, the concussion sending Natsuhiko stumbling backwards.
Shingi launched into the air, white robe billowing as she rose. She shot towards a tree that stuck up between the island and Natsuhiko’s family. She grabbed the branches, the wood swaying beneath her weight. Launching herself with the wind again, she darted through the air and onto the tree where Natsuhiko’s family was.
He stared, mouth agape. He had heard of Sages with elemental powers, but to control both the wind and the earth? What else could she do?
Shingi grabbed Saya’s hand, kicking out her foot and creating another small piece of land among the waves. She tossed Saya to the earth and then shimmied down the branches to help Routa and his mother.
“Head back to Ren,” Shingi called. “We’ll meet you there!”
Natsuhiko ran. This time, he couldn’t stop his tears.
As the day dwindled, Shingi had Natsuhiko light another fire. To his surprise, he could.
The survivors huddled in the open fields on the other side of the hill. The villagers still refused to talk to Natsuhiko and his family. Natsuhiko, Routa, and Saya knelt by the fire as Shingi tended to their mother. She had broken her arm crashing into the trunk of the tree.
“Where’s Kagome?” Saya asked again. She buried her face in Natsuhiko’s side.
Natsuhiko didn’t answer her. He stared at the flames, his mind swirling with screaming thoughts.
“Onī-chan, where’s Kagome?”
“I don’t know, Saya,” Natsuhiko said. His voice more bitter than he intended. “She wasn’t with us when…”
“We’ll find her.” His mother sat up, her arm in a sling that Shingi had cut from her own robe. “If we survived, then she is surely out there somewhere.”
Natsuhiko didn’t reply. He watched Shingi as she sat across from him, her eyes aglow with the light of the flames.
“Your brother lit this fire,” she said to his family. “He’s a Sage, like me.”
“Please, I don’t know how I lit the fire, but I’m no Sage. I just want to be left alone here with my family,” Natsuhiko said.
Shingi hugged her knees to her chest. “I wish that I could let you do that. But I’m sorry. I can’t. We need you to help us.”
He recalled what she had told him about the goddess Amaki. “I can’t help you. You’ll have to find someone else.”
“Natsuhiko,” his mother spoke. “You should go with her.”
He turned, throwing Saya’s head off of his shoulder. “How can you say that? And abandon you? Where will you go? What will you do?”
His mother crawled over to him, putting her usable hand on his cheek. “I knew this day would come. Ever since Amaki protected you all those years ago. She knew then that you were special. I knew it too. I just didn’t know exactly why.” Her eyes firmed. “If the goddess is in trouble, you have to help her.”
“But,” he pulled away from her touch, “where will you go? The villagers hate us.”
“Before I married your father, this village wasn’t my home. I have relatives in the neighboring village. They will take us in.”
“But, I—” he realized then, that if he went with his family, they would all be turned away because of his mark. He looked up towards the sky, tears and smoke stinging his eyes. He thanked Amaki that he was the only one to receive the brand.
He knew nothing about breaking a curse or about the Sages. He knew even less about his own powers. Yet, when his eyes met Shingi’s then, her tears mirrored his own.
“When we’ve broken the curse,” Shingi said, “I promise you can return here and rebuild your village. Amaki will be able to protect you then.”
Natsuhiko looked at each one of them. At Routa and Saya. At his mother. At Shingi. He wiped the tears that had gathered in his stubble, throwing them into the fire.
“I’ll go with you,” he said. “Just promise me that when we rebuild this village, you’ll all come back.”
His mother smiled, the corners of her mouth catching her tears. “I’ll wait for as long as it takes.”